The band's name was taken from the name of a lawn-ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, not far from Montclair, New Jersey. That city is the hometown of the band's bassist and cofounder Adam Schlesinger (the store has since gone out of business). According to Songfacts, there were prominent fountains there.
The concept of the band was formed by Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood. The two first met as freshmen at Williams College and began playing music together in various groups. The two eventually went their separate ways with Collingwood forming the Mercy Buckets in Boston and Schlesinger forming Ivy in New York City. The duo initially set out to work together in the early 90s under various band monikers (including ones named "Pinwheel" and "The Wallflowers"), and recorded a full album's worth of demos in 1993. Although never released, the "Pinwheel" demos are widely bootlegged by fans and display a very different (yet still earnest) version of the pair's songwriting, though several songs from this period would be re-tooled and appear on later releases.
After failing to get their project off the ground, the two met up once again during the mid-90s and formed Fountains of Wayne. A demo eventually landed the two a deal with Atlantic Records and in 1996 they released their self titled debut. The album spawned the singles Radiation Vibe and Sink To The Bottom which received airplay, but it was Schlesinger's song entitled That Thing You Do! which became a hit being used as the lead track for the Tom Hanks film of the same name. "That Thing You Do!" also brought Schlesinger an Oscar nomination and an RIAA gold certification for the hit soundtrack.
Along with guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian Young, the band toured the world extensively behind the album playing alongside bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins and The Lemonheads.
In 1999, the band returned with their second album, Utopia Parkway, a loosely-based concept album about life in the American suburbs in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, a much-changed radio climate left little room in playlists for Fountains of Wayne's snarky power-pop, and the album, along with its three singles Denise, Red Dragon Tattoo, and Troubled Times, sank without much notice. The following year, the band was mostly quiet, contributing a song each to a soundtrack and a compilation (Too Cool for School to the "Scary Movie" soundtrack and California Sex Lawyer to the third installment of the International Pop Overthrow series). They were dropped by Atlantic soon thereafter.
The band spent much of the early 2000s in seclusion, occasionally rejoining to record or play an occasional gig, but mostly Schlessinger was focusing on work with Ivy and Collingwood founded an alt.country band near his Western Massachusetts home called The Gay Potatoes. In addition, the band wrote and performed the theme song to the popular Comedy Central program "Crank Yankers," and contributed a cover of The Kinks "Better Days" to a tribute album. The song was also later featured prominently in a scene of the 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." During this time, the band's stature only grew in indie pop circles, raising expectations high for the release of their next album.
Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne's third record and first for Virgin, was released in June of 2003. Preceeded by the single and video for the Cars-ish Stacy's Mom, the song became a surprise top 20 hit on the strength of its video--a send-up of 1980s teen comedies like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"--which starred Rachel Hunter as Stacy's Mom. The video went into heavy rotation on MTV, pushing the album to become Fountains of Wayne's most successful with sales exceeding 400,000 units.
Like most bands who have a major hit driven by a clever video, follow-up singles did not fare as well. Despite a similarly-clever video for Mexican Wine, the single failed to take off after MTV banned the video due to a scene where two underage girls lip-synch the words to the chorus, a reference to drinking tequila. Third single Hey Julie initially made only a minor dent on AAA and Hot AC format stations, but it was later featured in "Scrubs" and other TV shows and grew in stature over time, becoming something of a sleeper hit. During this time, the band also wrote a series of short, almost They Might Be Giants-styled songs for a short-lived VH1 TV series titled "Hey Joel!," which was written by critic Joel Stein. The show was canceled before it aired in the United States and the songs were never released.
The song named "Red Dragon Tattoo" was also featured in the 2004 series "Kingdom Hospital", based on a novel by Stephen King, that aired on BBC.
In 2005, the band issued the 2-disc Out-of-State Plates, a compilation rounding up the band's various import-only B-sides as well as several new songs. Maureen was released as a single yet received little attention.
The band's fourth proper album, titled Traffic and Weather, was released April 3, 2007. One abandoned track from these sessions, a novelty throwaway titled Monster House that was written for the movie of the same name but not used, was leaked in advance of the album's release via the band's MySpace page. "Traffic and Weather" met with typically strong reviews but fewer sales than its predecessor, although the single and video for Someone to Love made a minor impact.
In early 2009, the band embarked on a small tour where they began to debut some new songs from an as-yet-untitled fifth album. Progress was slow, however, and other than some scattered shows the band dropped almost entirely out of view for two years. In late 2010, the band announced that they were now without a label but that they had completed their as-yet-untitled fifth album, which they were hoping to release sometime in 2011 once they found a new label. During this time they gave away one new free song via their website. Song of the Passaic was written for an NPR segment using a poem about New Jersey's famed, industrial Passaic River.
In May 2011, the band has announced that their fifth album, Sky Full of Holes will be released on August 1st, 2011 on Lojinx in Europe, August 2nd, 2011 on YepRoc in North America and on Warner in Japan. Two singles were released in advance of the album itself: Richie and Ruben in May 2011, followed by Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart the following month. Like their previous releases, the album garnered critical praise from a variety of publications. Jill Menze of 'Billboard' called the release "excellent", describing it as "a new minimal sound with a poppy, folk-leaning flair."
After a six-month tour in support of the album, the band quietly went defunct in favor of side projects. Although they never officially broke up, the band has been completely inactive since sometime in 2012.
On April 1st, 2020, co-founder Adam Schlessinger passed away due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 52.
Fire Island
Fountains of Wayne Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sleeping on the roof
Drinking all the alcohol
All the kids from school
Will be naked in the pool
While our parents are on Fire Island
Cranking up the tunes
Feeding chocolate to the dog
Jumping on the couch
'Til the feathers all come out
While our parents are on Fire Island
We're old enough by now
To take care of each other
We don't need no babysitter
We don't need no father or mother
We're old enough by now
Don't worry 'bout a thing
Don't you remember
Last December
When you went to Steamboat Springs?
Driving on the lawn
Sleeping on the roof
Drinking all the alcohol
All the kids from school
Will be naked in the pool
While our parents are on Fire Island
The lyrics to Fountains of Wayne’s “Fire Island” tell the story of a group of teenagers who have been left alone by their parents while they are on vacation on Fire Island. The lyrics describe the wild and irresponsible behavior that the teens engage in while their parents are away. They drive on the lawn, sleep on the roof, drink all the alcohol, and allow their friends to come over and swim naked in the pool. The chorus, “We’re old enough by now, to take care of each other,” suggests that the teenagers believe they are responsible enough to take care of themselves and each other without their parents’ supervision.
The lyrics also highlight the teenagers’ sense of freedom and empowerment that comes from being left alone. They feel that they do not need a babysitter or their father or mother to watch over them. However, the line “Don’t worry ’bout a thing, Don’t you remember last December when you went to Steamboat Springs?” suggests that the parents may have had a similar experience of irresponsibility and freedom when they were teenagers themselves, which is why they felt comfortable leaving their children alone.
Overall, the lyrics to “Fire Island” capture the typical recklessness of youth and the desire for independence that comes with it. The song suggests that while it may be chaotic and irresponsible, being left alone can also be a liberating and exhilarating experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Driving on the lawn
We're reckless and carefree, not caring about the damage we may cause by driving wherever we want.
Sleeping on the roof
We're adventurous and enjoy taking risks, such as sleeping on the roof for a thrill.
Drinking all the alcohol
We love to party and indulge in drinking alcohol excessively, without any concerns for the consequences.
All the kids from school
All of our friends from school join us for the wild and crazy fun we're having.
Will be naked in the pool
Everyone is uninhibited and free to be themselves, even if that means being naked in the pool.
While our parents are on Fire Island
We're taking advantage of the fact that our parents aren't around to monitor and control our behavior.
Cranking up the tunes
We like to blast the music as loud as we can, not caring about the impact on our ears or the surrounding neighbors.
'Til the windows break
We're so loud and wild that we may even break the windows with the volume of our music.
Feeding chocolate to the dog
We don't always make good decisions, such as feeding chocolate to a dog which is harmful for them.
Jumping on the couch
We're energetic and let loose by jumping on the couch, even if it damages the furniture.
'Til the feathers all come out
We're so wild and crazy that even the couch feathers are coming out from our jumping and roughhousing.
We're old enough by now
We're teenagers and feel like we're old enough to make our own decisions and take care of ourselves. We don't need our parents to babysit us anymore.
To take care of each other
We have a sense of responsibility for one another, since we're all in this together and need to rely on each other for support and safety.
We don't need no babysitter
We don't require any adult supervision or authority since we feel capable of taking care of ourselves without any restrictions.
We don't need no father or mother
We're independent and self-reliant, not relying on our parents for guidance or assistance with our decisions.
Don't worry 'bout a thing
We're confident and relaxed, not worrying about any potential consequences of our actions.
Don't you remember
We've been through this before, and we can handle whatever comes our way because we've done it before.
Last December
We've faced similar situations in the past, such as when our parents went on a trip to Steamboat Springs, and we were able to handle it without any problems.
When you went to Steamboat Springs?
Our parents have trusted us before and allowed us to be on our own, so there's no reason to worry about us now while they're away on Fire Island.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Adam Schlesinger, Christopher Brendan Collingwood
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind